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Wearable device that makes our body a battery

Sushmit Mukherji

Feb 06,2024
1 min read
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The researchers at the University of Colorado Boulders have developed a wearable device that utilizes our body heat to generate electricity.

Yes, you read that right! Something which sounds like a straight-up Cyberpunk thing can now be a reality. The device appearing in the journal Science Advances is described to be of a stretchable material that can take shape of a ring, bracelet, or any other thing to employ thermoelectric generators to make electricity, as long as it is touching the skin.

Jianling Xiao, the paper’s senior author, and an associate professor at the CU Boulders hopes that soon wearable devices will no longer need batteries and can be powered by the body itself. This device can also solve the electronic waste crisis as it is fully recyclable. The polyamine-based material is self-healing so there are no worries of wear and tear.

Moreover, if the device is to be recycled, it requires to be dunk in a special solution that dissolves the base leaving out the electric components.The device is capable of generating 1 V of energy per square centimetre of skin for now. It is being made cheap and reliable so that it may serve its purpose and leave a minimal effect on the environment. Xiao and his colleagues believe in improving their device for better power output and plans in taking the market in 5 to 10 years by mass production.